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Rajnath Singh asks Mizoram, Assam to defuse tension along border

Union home minister Rajnath Singh asked the governments of Mizoram and Assam to take all possible measures to maintain peace and public order, and defuse tension along the border between the states.

In a letter, Singh urged Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla to prevent the assembly of people at Bairabi as a step towards improving the situation in the area.

Late last month, the Assam police baton-charged some Mizo students who were trying to construct a wooden resting shed at a place that Assam says is its territory. At least 49 people were injured in the incident that flared up tension along the border.

“The outstanding issues need to be resolved mutually and amicably,” Singh wrote to Lal Thanhawla.

He also directed the union home secretary to convene a chief secretary-level meeting of the two states in the next week. If necessary, there can also be a meeting of chief ministers, the union home minister said.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal earlier sought the home ministry’s intervention and had a telephonic talk with his Mizoram counterpart to resolve the border row amicably.

Lal Thanhawla also wrote to Singh, seeking his intervention to restore peace and the resume boundary dialogue at the earliest.

Meanwhile, security has been tightened along the Assam-Mizoram border.

The Assam administration is also holding a series of meetings in the bordering areas as part of its confidence building exercise.